Resistance welding is defined as a process whereby force is applied to

surfaces in contact and in which the heat for welding is produced by the
passage of electric current through the electrical resistance at, and
adjacent to, these surfaces.
Electric resistance welding (ERW[1]) refers to a group of welding
processes such as spot and seam welding that produce coalescence of
faying surfaces where heat to form the weld is generated by the
electrical resistance of material combined with the time and the force
used to hold the materials together during welding. Some factors
influencing heat or welding temperatures are the proportions of the
workpieces, the metal coating or the lack of coating, the electrode
materials, electrode geometry, electrode pressing force, electrical
current and length of welding time.
Distinct advantages of Resistance Welding over other welding processes:
There are a number of distinct advantages that account for wide use of
the resistance welding
processes, particularly in mass production. These advantages include:
They are very rapid in operation.
The equipment can be fully automated.
They conserve materials as no filler material, shielding gas or flux is
required.
Skilled operators are not required.
Dissimilar metals can be easily joined.
A high degree of reliability and reproducibility can be achieved.
Resistance Welding has some limitations, the principal ones being:
The equipment has a high initial cost.
There are limitations to the type of joints that can be made (mostly
suitable for lap
joints).
Skilled maintenance persons are required to service the control
equipment.
Some materials require special surface preparations prior to welding.
Spot welding
Spot welding is a resistance welding method used to join two or more
overlapping metal sheets, studs, projections, electrical wiring hangers,
some heat exchanger fins, and some tubing. Usually power sources and
welding equipment are sized to the specific thickness and material being
welded together. The thickness is limited by the output of the welding
power source and thus the equipment range due to the current required for
each application
Seam welding
Resistance seam welding is a process that produces a weld at the faying
surfaces of two similar metals. The seam may be a butt joint or an
overlap joint and is usually an automated process.
Low-frequency Electric resistance welding
Low-frequency electric resistance welding, LF-ERW, is an obsolete method
of welding seams in oil and gas pipelines. It was phased out in the 1970s
but as of 2015 some pipelines built with this method remained in service.
WELDING

CYCLE

A duty cycle is the percentage of one period in which a signal is

active.[1][2][3] A period is the time it takes for a signal to complete
an on-and-off cycle. As a formula, a duty cycle may be expressed as:
D=(T/P)*100
where D is the duty cycle, T is the time the signal is active, and P is
the total period of the signal. Thus, a 60% duty cycle means the signal
is on 60% of the time but off 40% of the time. The "on time" for a 60%
duty cycle could be a fraction of a second, a day, or even a week,
depending on the length of the period.
Duty cycles can be used to describe the percent time of an active signal
in an electrical device such as the power switch in a switching power
supply or the firing of action potentials by a living system such as a
neuron.The duty factor for periodic signal expresses the same notion, but
is usually scaled to a maximum of one rather than 100%.
In a welding power supply, the maximum duty cycle is defined as the
percentage of time in a 10-minute period that it can be operated
continuously before overheating.
duty cycle is based on a 10 minuit cycle. so if its at 40% duty cycle at
260 amps, then you can weld for 4 minuets strait then cool for 6 .keep in
mind thats full on trigger pulled for 4 minuets, not start, stop move and
start again in the 4 minuets. so take into account setup and moving from
one weld to another as cooling time. it tends to stretch out the duty
cycle.